Category Archives: Vance Brand Airport

For the record, I am a member of the Airport Advisory Board, but let’s get one thing perfectly clear: I did not waive my First Amendment rights when I was appointed to this board. And some of the things that Citizens Against Runway Expansion, or CARE, are saying about the airport Master Plan must be addressed. Continue reading… →

Most of the noise regarding Longmont’s Vance Brand Airport isn’t coming from the airport itself, but from neighbors who aren’t Longmont residents or taxpayers. No airport complaint-fest would be complete without mentioning it’s #1 detractor farmer, that would be the Zweck property. They are correct on one point: their family was here before the airport, even before airplanes existed. The Zweck name predates Longmont itself, and the history of the family is not in question and not being disparaged. What is inexcusable is the ongoing questionable activity of Tom Zweck, who apparently thinks it’s acceptable behavior to threaten to shoot pilots, including myself, and skydivers. No one has that birthright, I don’t care who you are.

You knew something was up when many advocates for prairie dogs filed into the Longmont City Council chambers last Tuesday night to make pleas on behalf of the ongoing issue of prairie dogs at Longmont’s Vance Brand Airport. Others channeled world leaders and one was very persistent in being disruptive and placing signs within camera view of the live meeting.

But, speakers also stated that 3,500 people had sent emails and letters in support of the prairie dogs. Continue reading… →

What should Longmont do with those pesky varmints known as prairie dogs? Well, here’s one idea that not only takes them out quick and painlessly, destroys their tunnel system, but also cooks them to a crisp for this great Prairie Dog Chili Festival I keep hearing about. Hey, if Nederland can party over a frozen dead guy, why not?
The device?

In what’s sure to be yet another hot topic in the city of Longmont, Colorado, the wholesale extermination of prairie dogs at the Vance Brand Airport is under way. What’s going to be interesting is the interaction between the city staff that moved forward on it, and a few on city council who spoke out against it – and of course a few vocal citizens. Continue reading… →

In the FoxNews report in my previous story, it said the City of Longmont “planned to spend up to $14,000 to build a newbarrier fence” to keep prairie dogs out of the airport movement area. The fence is built, and I thought you might like to see where and how your money was spent. You know what they say about how you should hold on to your wallet when talking about governments? In this case, due to laughter, hold on to your stomachs… Continue reading… →

It appears the Longmont airport prairie dogs have brought the local FoxNews reporters here in light of the news that because the prairie dogs are creating a hazard, the city may lose federal funding. I also received word that people in Florida saw the TV coverage and are now talking about our airport/prairie dog dilemma. Continue reading… →

The scourge of Longmont’s Vance Brand Airport, its prairie dogs not its vocal pilots, are now national news. FoxNews did a piece called “Cute, Cuddly Menace”.

In the piece the sum of “quarter of a million dollars” was mentioned, but in all reality it’s much higher. Over the years, Longmont has accepted over $3 million from the Airport Improvement Program, a fact the U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Aviation Administration reminded the city of in an April 8, 2009 document. (Full disclosure, I am an employee of the DOT/FAA, but not from this branch and have no impact on this matter). The document further states: Continue reading… →

One would assume the obvious that interaction between wildlife and airplanes can be a dangerous thing. But you wouldn’t know that in Longmont, Colorado where they are about to try something that from all reports no other airport has attempted.

As suggested in the Longmont Times-Call’s call-in, one way to solve the prairie dog problem at Longmont’s Vance Brand Municipal Airport without exterminating them might be to trap them and see how many of the caring people who show up at these public hearings step forward to take them home to keep in their own backyards.

But because these cute little rodents are known carriers of the dreaded bubonic plague through infestation of fleas, that’s not a good idea. And due to their tunneling ability, of course, building fences and putting up plastic barriers to control them are usually a waste of time and money. Prairie dogs not only attract coyotes, which feed on them, but share their burrows with rattlesnakes. Continue reading… →